Why You Should Stop Using Pot

If you want to achieve ANYTHING in life, it’s TIME to stop smoking pot.

This advice runs quite contrary to the current popular culture.

Recreational marijuana use has gone mainstream in the past few years as various states have legalized its use.

Celebrities such as Wiz Khalifa, Justin Timberlake, and Miley Cyrus have admitted to using it, and openly promote legalization at the federal level.

Marijuana, which was once regarded as a gateway drug, is now lauded for its medicinal properties and it has been re-branded as a safe, herbal alternative to achieving relaxation.

Drugs are bad

Not too long ago, smoking pot was considered to be a bad thing.

Everyone knew that it wasn’t as bad as the so-called “hard drugs” like heroin and cocaine, but no one regarded it as a good thing.

People who smoked lots of pot were called “burnouts” or “stoners” because the excessive marijuana consumption killed their ambition and made them stupid.

Pot was also believed to be a gateway drug that leads to the adoption of the harder drugs.

If you grew up in the 80’s you probably remember the “This is your brain on drugs” commercial featuring an egg sizzling in the frying pan or the D.A.R.E. program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) that was taught in virtually every school.

The trend carried over into the nineties with a similar PSA featuring one time “it” girl Rachael Leigh Cook, slamming pots and pans to demonstrate the effects of drug use on ALL aspects of life.

At the time, there had been a rash of Hollywood and music industry deaths related to drug abuse such as actor River Phoenix and Sublime lead singer and guitarist, Bradley Nowell.

The message back then was clear—all drug use is destructive and should be avoided at all costs.

A makeover for pot

At some point, attitudes towards marijuana changed. 

It was probably a combination of the libertarian movement to legalize drug usage and the medical marijuana movement that gave pot smoking a rehabilitation.

Whatever the cause, smoking pot is no longer viewed as something reserved for life’s losers.

Now, smoking pot is viewed as cool.

Here are some good reasons why YOU should consider throwing away your pipe, bong, and rolling papers.

Pot and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia frequently crops up in notorious murder cases.

Almost invariably, if the perpetrators turn out to be schizophrenic, they are also heavy marijuana users.

For example, Colorado theatre shooter James Holmes and Tucson shooter Jared Loughner were BOTH pot smokers.

I once attended a lecture by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, a psychiatrist who specializes in schizophrenia.

Torrey mentioned that if he could do one thing to reduce the incidence of schizophrenia among young people, he would post a huge sign at every rock concert warning users that smoking pot increases your chance of becoming schizophrenic by ten times.

The most recent studies seem to indicate that marijuana can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in people who have a predisposition towards the disease.

That is, most people will be able to smoke pot with no risk of ever developing the disease.

But is it worth the risk?

Are you feeling lucky?

Smoking pot can take away your motivation

All drugs have side effects, but the popular media would have us believe that pot is an exception.

The worst side effect that I have noticed in heavy pot users is loss of motivation.

These folks seem to be content with frittering their lives away, achieving nothing, and doing as little as possible except smoking weed.

But my evidence is anecdotal.

However, there is some solid research that backs up the observation that using pot takes away ALL of your ambition.

A recent study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London determined that long-term cannabis users produce less dopamine, a chemical linked to motivation.

This study led researchers to conclude that: “Long-term cannabis use may blunt the brain’s motivation system.”

The bottom line is that if you are a man who is currently trying to improve his life, smoking pot is going to take you in the EXACT opposite direction.

Other side effects of cannabis usage

There is currently a debate in MANY scientific circles of the effect of marijuana on sex.

The research is contradictory.

In animal studies, cannabis has been found to lower testosterone levels, but the human studies have NOT yet been conclusive.

While we are waiting for a future study to definitively settle the question, the prudent course is to avoid using ANYTHING that would negatively impact your testosterone levels.

The testosterone levels of American men have already been dropping since the 1980’s — you already probably have lower T levels than your father or your grandfather.

It doesn’t make sense to do things that MIGHT lower them even further.

To be a success don’t numb yourself

Even if marijuana didn’t carry the risk of triggering schizophrenia, taking away your motivation, or decreasing your testosterone levels, it would STILL be a VERY bad idea.

To become successful takes A LOT of work.

Numbing yourself, whether that comes from drinking too much alcohol or smoking pot…

Will take you away from achieving your goal, and it also carries the risk that it can become an addiction that will lead to your inevitable downfall.

Truly successful people give their complete focus to achieving their goal.

Real estate titan Donald Trump has a strict no drugs/no alcohol ethic that he has passed on to his children.

Gene Simmons, leader of the rock band Kiss, also avoided drugs and alcohol even when the band was at its peak of popularity.

Even Benjamin Franklin was a teetotaler in his younger days.

It was only AFTER he had accomplished great things in business, science, and politics that he started to enjoy the occasional bottle of wine.

Conclusion

A self-absorbed populace is easy to rule.

That’s why rulers have ALWAYS provided diversions, to keep the masses distracted.

In ancient Rome, it was the games in the Colosseum.

Today, the media, our celebrities, and the other members of our new “aristocracy” encourage us to enjoy life and light up our medical marijuana cigarette.

If you needed any further reason to avoid using pot, look at the voices that are pushing it’s use.

That alone should be enough evidence to convince you to do the EXACT opposite.

Until next time.

Your man,

-Elijah “The Realist”